Speaking of stunned, we were pleasantly stunned to hear that Valerie Harper would be joining the new season of Dancing With The Stars despite what was being called terminal brain cancer! That takes a LOT of courage, and we wondered how she got the green light from her doctors to do it.

Well, we might know now — according to her doctors, her brain cancer is 'pretty close' to remission!

Based on recent tests, despite delivering the news to the public in March that her cancer was rare AND terminal, the 74-year-old is stronger than anyone could ever think, and is close to buying a lot more time!

Here's what her doc said:

"I'd say that we're getting pretty close to a remission. It defies the odds."

We don't want to celebrate TOO soon, of course, but we'd be lying if we didn't say this news is amazing and gives us so much hope! We just want her to get that official remission diagnosis!

We'll be able to hear more about it because Valerie has an hour-long documentary airing in Sept. on NBC — all about her battle with cancer.

Still, even if she DOES enter remission, she is not out of the woods. The cancer can develop a resistance to therapy, even though she might have time before that happens. It sounds like it WILL happen, though, with her doc saying it's not a matter of if the cancer will become resistant, but when.

Still, any extra time is a blessing! Plus, she has DWTS to look forward to… and to win!!

I know of a woman who recovered from bone cancer recently. Everything just fell into place. It was probably detected quite early. She was injected with stem cells. Also my friend recovered from colon cancer a couple of years ago. She has to wear an ostomy bag after having some colon removed but says it's a small price to pay considering the alternative. So good luck to Valerie. What a brave and wonderful person she is!